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A look at Minnesota legislative issues

ST. PAUL – Here is where some issues stand as the Minnesota Legislature enters its home-stretch before a May 20 or earlier adjournment:

Bonding: Gov. Mark Dayton plans to announce his proposal for public works projects soon. He said he will suggest bonding for $750 million, including some for state Capitol renovation.

Budget:The governor, House and Senate Democrats suggest spending about $38 billion in the next two years. The three plans are similar, but House and Senate committees still must produce details.

Capitol renovation: More than $200 million is needed to renovate the state Capitol building. The governor is expected to recommend at least $100 million of that to be in this year’s bonding bill.

Care attendants: In a bill that would allow child care workers to join unions is a lesser-known provision that also would allow those who care for the sick and disabled, including family members, to unionize.

Day care: Bills are moving through House and Senate committees to allow Minnesotans who care for children in their homes to join unions.

Education: Most attention to public schools this year has been to increase funding for the youngest students. Included in the initiatives are plans to fund all-day kindergarten; the governor’s budget plan would not fund every school district, but some legislative proposals would.

Gay marriage: Minnesota voters last November decided not to enshrine a same-sex marriage ban in the state Constitution and in about a month the full House and Senate are expected to vote on a proposal to remove an existing gay-marriage ban from state law.

Gun control: School and other shootings fanned a demand for gun control, but from early this legislative session it was apparent that banning so-called assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazine would go nowhere. The debate now is whether to expand background checks for gun buyers. There is widespread agreement that some measures are needed to keep guns away from people who should not have them.

Health care: Minnesota will be among a handful of states that operate a mostly Web-based marketplace where its residents can compare and buy health insurance policies. That is the only major law the governor has signed this year. In their budget plans, House and Senate Democrats call for cutting $150 million from health programs that serve the poor, elderly and disabled.

Higher education: The governor, House and Senate all want to raise spending for state-run colleges and universities, as well as a state student grant program, after years of financial struggles. The University of Minnesota hopes to receive enough funding to freeze tuitions.

Local aid: It always has been the suburbs vs. big cities and rural areas in local aid debates, but this year cities of all sizes and locations have come together on a new formula that would make state aid more predictable and, supporters say, more fair. Some suburbs that now get no state payments would get aid under the plan. Also, there seems to be an agreement among the governor and legislative leaders to increase money available to cities.

Methadone clinics: Hopes by some to increase regulation on clinics that prescribe the powerful painkiller methadone were dashed when no bills to do passed by a March committee deadline. However, there still is a chance that a methadone provision could be inserted into a health and human services budget bill.

Minimum wage: Bills are progressing to raise the state’s $6.15 an hour minimum wage large employers must pay to more than $9 an hour. The proposal has the governor’s backing. Many Minnesota employers are governed by the federal $7.25 minimum wage.

Partisanship: Republicans admit they have little say in what happens since Democrats control the governor’s office and both legislative chambers for the first time in more than two decades. Democrats only need GOP votes if they are to pass a public works bill because selling bonds needs a super majority.

Rural Minnesota: House Republicans started the session upset that the speaker and majority leader are from Minneapolis and St. Paul and the person heading the committee dealing with agriculture spending is a strong environmentalist. Rural Democrats, meanwhile, could decide whether issues unpopular in their parts of the state, such as gun control and gay marriage, have a chance of passing.

Sex offenders: Measures are being considered to respond to a federal judge who has given Minnesota notice it must change how it deals with serious sex offenders who have completed their prison terms. Now, many sex offenders are committed to a sex offender center that looks a lot like a prison, but bills offer ways for the offenders to be released to community facilities around the state.

Stadium funding: In a session when major stadium funding was not expected to be an issue, some legislators are not happy that electronic pull tab revenues so far have fallen short of promised made last year when they were picked as a funding source for a new Vikings stadium. But, so far at least, there has been no serious move to change the funding source.

Standard of care: Nurses came into the session hoping for a bill establishing a quota for how many nurses would be on duty at hospitals. After strong hospital opposition, bills dealing with the subject now center on studies of how many nurses are needed.

Sunday booze: Bills to allow Sunday sale of alcohol have gone nowhere, but supporters say a chance remains to insert a provision into other bills.

Taxes: Democrats want to raise more than $2 billion in new taxes in the next two years. It appears they have broad agreement among themselves to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of earners, but the governor’s plan to expand the sales tax to include most services hit a brick wall. House and Senate committees have yet to decide how they would raise taxes.

Don Davis has been the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau chief since 2001, covering state government and politics for two dozen newspapers in the state. Don also blogs at Capital Chatter on Areavoices.